After a short delay, Sprint is now ushering Samsung's highly anticipated successor to the popular Galaxy S III to store shelves, but how much does it cost? New customers can pick up the Galaxy S4 with a two-year contract for $149, but existing customers looking to upgrade must plop down $249 to bring home the same phone. This isn't the best of news for current Sprint customers, but there is now another option available.

Many things don't work well together: oil and water, drinking and driving, and as it turns out, Samsung's TecTiles and the Galaxy S4. Samsung is acknowledging that the current line of NFC tags cannot be read by its new flagship phone. In fact, even the official TecTile site's Buy Now link is now defunct.

The SGS4 incorporates a Broadcom BCM2079x chip which lacks support for some types of MIFARE tags from NXP Semiconductors, including TecTiles which are built with MIFARE Classic chips.

Samsung is facing some difficulties in getting its newest flagship phone into the hands of its U.S. customers. T-Mobile and Sprint have both reported that they will need to push back retail and online availability of the device. T-Mobile will now begin selling the phone on April 29th via its website, though the company has not confirmed when it will be available in stores. Here's the carrier's full statement:

We know customers are really looking forward to getting their new Samsung Galaxy S 4 soon.

Update: Some early pre-order folks are saying their devices are supposed to arrive on the 25th. It might only be newer pre-orders that are going out on the 30th.

If you're planning to pick up Samsung's latest and greatest on AT&T's LTE network the instant it's available, start checking your email for tracking numbers on April 30th. That's when pre-orders for the Galaxy S 4 will begin going out to customers.

The day AT&T and US Cellular customers have been waiting on for some weeks is here: it's time to pre-order Samsung's Next Big Thing. For a shiny new two-hundred dollar bill, you can secure the 16GB Galaxy S4 in either white frost or black mist on either carrier. And if you're on US Cellular, you get an added bonus: the company is throwing in a free S View flip cover to seal the deal.

Looks like every carrier in Canada (give or take a couple) decided to announce GS4 pre-orders at the same time. The good news, though, is that if you're on Telus, Bell, Virgin, or Videotron, you're one step closer to landing yourself a shiny new phone. The device is available for pre-order on all four of the aforementioned carriers, with a shipping date of April 27th for the former three.

Customers on Telus and Bell will be able to grab this handset for $200 with a three-year agreement (yikes!); Videotron customers will see the same price, though there's no word on agreement terms in the PR.

Just a week ago, AT&T filled us in on its pricing plans for the Galaxy S 4, stating that the 32GB device would retail for $249 with a two year commitment. While that is technically true, what the carrier neglected to mention was that it would also carry a 16GB model for $199, bringing the entry-level price for this phone in line with nearly every other major handset on the market.

Carriers across the country are gearing up for the next big thing to hit shelves, with T-Mobile offering the handset from May 1 and AT&T accepting pre-orders beginning on April 16th. As it turns out, U.S. Cellular will also begin taking pre-order on the 16th, though the regional carrier hasn't yet announced how much the device will cost. When I reached out for more info, I was told that "pricing will be available on 4/16."

The launch of the Galaxy S 4 grows ever closer and the carriers want you to know they're on it. To wit, AT&T announced today that its branded version of the new flagship will go up for pre-order on April 16th for $249 on a two-year contract. Pretty standard fare, though with a $249 up front price tag, we imagine T-Mobile will probably have something to say about that.

The BBC News reader on Android got an update today that should please the pixel poppers among the audience. The app has been optimized to take advantage of Super Mega Ultra dense displays like on the Xperia Z and Droid DNA (to say nothing of the upcoming HTC One and Galaxy S 4). A pile of bugs have been squashed in the new update as well.

Here's the full change log:

What's in this version:

This is a major update of our app, with improved performance and image quality.